


The Graying of Bruce Wayne

by pudding_bretzel



Series: Catch Me When I'm Weightless [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alfred Pennyworth is a Saint, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Dick Grayson and Jason Todd are Siblings, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Protective Bruce Wayne
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:56:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28463478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pudding_bretzel/pseuds/pudding_bretzel
Summary: “The last time I saw him, Master Jason was heading up to his room for a quick nap. He seemed rather tired.”“Well, he’s not there anymore. Or anywhere else in the manor.” Bruce’s panic is rising still and if he doesn’t find Jason within the next few minutes he’ll call Gordon. And maybe pull up the surveillance cameras to see who took his little boy. As unlikely as that his, he can’t stop his racing mind jumping from scenario to scenario.He stopped trying when he checked the last room of the first floor and still couldn’t find Jason anywhere.Or: Bruce is not so silently freaking out because Jason is missing.
Relationships: Alfred Pennyworth & Bruce Wayne, Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne
Series: Catch Me When I'm Weightless [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2084859
Comments: 13
Kudos: 224





	The Graying of Bruce Wayne

**Author's Note:**

> Yep, I've decided to make this a series (still unsure about the name tho). The name of this fic is really bad and I cringe everytime I read it, but I couldn't think of anything better. If you have a better idea, go ahead! Anything is better than this.. xD  
> This is part two of the series, so I recommend reading the first part though it's not necessarily required.  
> Oh and also, it's been a little under a year since Dick found Jason, just for context.  
> Enjoy! :D

When Bruce opens the door to the newest addition to his family’s room there are many scenarios running through his head for what he might find.

Ever since Dick found the small boy in the batmobile and carried him through the night, dead set on never letting him out of sight again, Bruce had known that Jason would be staying with them for a while. What he didn’t expect though, was Jason and Dick growing so close together that the line between _friend_ and _brother_ slowly became nothing more than a blur. 

He also didn’t expect for the boy to worm himself into both Alfred’s and his own heart within days and slowly but surely making any decision towards giving him away become more and more painful and straight up impossible. Bruce loved watching the boy start to smile more and more. The moments he forgets all that pain – those horrible things a child his age should never have faced – and his laughter echoes through the halls of the manor, entwined with Dick’s and bringing a smile on Bruce’s own face. 

He loved watching both his sons grow day by day. 

_Sons_.

Who would have thought Bruce Wayne – the ladies’ man and Gotham’s richest billionaire and the crime fighting Batman – would ever get the chance to call himself the father of two of the brightest and loveliest, though at times frighteningly chaotic boys in the world. 

So when he puts his hand on the doorknob to Jason’s room the only thought on his mind is whether or not the boy is doing okay after all the ruckus of the past few days. With the formalities of the adoption – _he’s the father of two boys now!_ – finally done and a thing of the past, he wanted to make sure that Jason isn’t too overwhelmed after all that stress. 

He expects to find the boy reading, as he does so often when he’s overwhelmed and needs to retreat to another world to just relax and calm down again. Or maybe he’s doing some of the puzzles Dick gave him. They might be too difficult for him still, but that doesn’t mean the lad won’t try anyway – always so eager to impress as he is. 

What he isn’t prepared for once the door is finally open and he enters the tidy room is to find it empty. 

After a small survey of the room confirms that there is indeed no black haired little boy hiding anywhere, the smile immediately slips off Bruce’s face. The bed is unmade, the blankets pushed all the way back to the footboard revealing an empty mattress. The closet Jason so often uses as his hiding place when everything else gets too much, when not even his beloved books seem to help and he needs to just be alone for a bit, is empty as well. 

Worry slowly but surely rising higher and higher, Bruce exits the room again. He walks down the hall, skillfully ignoring the fact that his steps are slightly faster than they necessarily need to be and calls out to his youngest.

“Jason!” 

The answer he’s hoping for never comes and his worry grows tenfold. Another call entails the same result before he finally reaches Dick’s room. He softly recalls Dick talking about taking Jason down to the cave to let the boy watch both him and Barbara train together. A small, desperate part of himself hopes the boy decided to stay with his brother instead of going off to his own room.

After a short knock he only barely keeps himself from opening the door to wait for Dick’s voice to resound from inside. Upon entering the room, he expects to find both of his boys deep in some kind of game or story, but instead only finds his eldest looking back up at him from where he apparently just stopped spinning on his desk chair. The only other person in the room is Barbara, sitting on Dick’s bed and looking at Bruce with a concerned look.

Though still young and early in their training, they’re both immediately catching on to the fact that something isn’t right.

“What’s up, B?” Dick asks with a nonchalant tilt of his head. In any other moment Bruce would most likely be grateful for his son’s attempt at soothing his already frayed nerves. As it stands though, he doesn’t have the thought to spare. 

“Have you seen your brother anywhere?” And as much as the thought of Jason as his legal son is still new to Bruce, the same can be said for Dick. The fraction of a second where his eyes light up when Bruce says _your brother_ is heartwarming. But it fades as quickly as it came when Dick answers.

“He said he was tired and went to his room.” At Bruce’s lack of a response to that Dick sits up straighter in his chair, more alert. “Why?”

“He’s not in his room,” Bruce says, but his mind is already lightyears away. _He’s not in his room. Where could he be? Did he wander off into the manor again and got lost? Maybe he’s hurt._

Barely, just barely he keeps his mind from racing to any more irrational conclusions and looks back at Dick and Barbara. Both of them have grown more tense in his silence and he curses himself for his inattentiveness. It’s enough that he’s already freaking out when Jason is most likely only sleeping somewhere else in the manor, there’s no need to upset the two of them as well. 

“I’m sorry for bothering the both of you,” he says curtly and makes his way out of the room. Before he can close the door though Dick is already up and coming towards him.

“Do you want us to help look for him?” In the back of the room Barbara is on her feet as well, nodding in affirmation. 

“There’s no need. I’m sure I’ll find him quickly enough. Maybe he felt uncomfortable alone in his bed again and went looking for some company.” 

They both watch him with twin expressions of scepsis but relent either way. “Just call us if you change your mind.”

“Of course,” Bruce answers and closes the door. He won’t though. Because he’ll find Jason in the next few minutes and it’ll be an overreaction on his side, yet again, that they’ll laugh about tomorrow. The boy is probably sleeping in the den or Bruce’s own bed again, to feel more save.

But why sleep there when he’s alone either way. 

He ignores the gnawing doubt and continues downstairs. If he always starts to panic because of every little thing his sons do he’s almost certain he won’t reach thirty. He’s not that surprised anymore that he already found the first gray strands at his temples when he feels his heart race in his chest.

It’s only when he’s searched his own bedroom and nearly all of the first floor and makes his way to the kitchen that he doesn’t try and stop his heart from racing in his chest anymore.

He nearly breaks the door open in his haste to enter the kitchen. Only there’s still no sight of his son, only Alfred, looking slightly startled and with a knife in hand, apparently preparing dinner.

“Have you seen Jason anywhere?” He very nearly shouts in his rising panic and his inner mantra of _where is my son_ and _please, dear god, be okay_. After spending the last twenty minutes searching frantically for the missing boy, though, he’s lost all pretense of trying to keep cool and collected. 

Jason is nowhere to be found and he’s desperate.

Alfred is looking at him utterly unimpressed, on eyebrow raised in disapproval. Bruce feels like he’s a teenager again with the butler looking at him like this. He would be impressed at the older man’s skill to still make him feel like a teenager who stepped out of line with just one look if it weren’t for his missing son.

Instead of showing any of the concern – or rather panic – that Bruce feels at the moment, Alfred simply lowers the knife he’s been cutting the chicken with and calmly turns his attention fully towards Bruce.

“The last time I saw him, Master Jason was heading up to his room for a quick nap. He seemed rather tired.”

“Well, he’s not there anymore. Or anywhere else in the manor.” Bruce’s panic is rising still and if he doesn’t find Jason within the next few minutes he’ll call Gordon. And maybe pull up the surveillance cameras to see who took his little boy. As unlikely as that his, he can’t stop his racing mind jumping from scenario to scenario. 

He stopped trying when he checked the last room of the first floor and still couldn’t find Jason anywhere.

“Now, now, Master Bruce, calm down. I’m sure the lad is fine.” 

And if it weren’t for the past twenty minutes of fruitless and frantic searching Bruce might have been pacified by the butler’s calm demeanor. As it stands, he barely keeps from breaking down. 

“I can’t find him anywhere,” he says, willing the butler to understand the severity of the situation. Why can’t he understand? How can he be so calm when Jason is gone!

“If we look together, I’m sure we’ll find him in no time. Now, why don’t you go ahead and call for Master Richard and Miss Gordon’s help while I clear away the food.”

And so, not two minutes later, the manor is filled with concerned voices calling for his son. Maybe, if it weren’t for the fact that he already spent so much time searching and has long ago abandoned all reason, he would find the fact hilarious, that they can’t find a lone sleeping five year old in his home. But he has, and so he doesn’t.

Nothing about this is funny and he’s glad none of the others feel any different about it. 

They still haven’t found the boy ten minutes into their joined search when suddenly, he hears Alfred calling out for him. 

“Master Bruce, I believe I located our missing boy.”

And Bruce does _not_ start running when he hears the butler’s words. 

When he reaches them, he’s surprised to find himself in front of Jason’s room. Confused, he enters, only to stop short in his tracks when he spots the head of unruly curls nestled in the bunched up covers at the foot of the bed. 

Jason is rubbing his eyes, obviously only just waking up, as Bruce rushes forward and hesitantly stands in front of the bed. He’s torn between crushing Jason in a fierce hug and crawling into a whole and never coming out again.

The choice is taken from him when Jason sits up and looks up at him with bleary eyes. 

“Whaz goin’ on?” 

At exactly that moment Dick comes running into the room, Barbara right behind him. “Did you find him?” He calls out loudly. Seeing Jason sitting in his bed, Dick’s smile finally finds its way back onto his face and he grins back up at Bruce, only a little bit gleeful. “See? I told you he was in his room!”

Jason looks back and forth between the four of them, a question visibly forming in his head. “Were you lookin’ for me?”

“I was. But it wasn’t important, Jay.”

And it wasn’t. It really wasn’t. And maybe if he hadn’t tried to make sure Jason was okay he would have less gray hair on his head now. But the only important thing is that they found him and that his son is okay. He reaches out and gently ruffles Jason’s hair. Still sleepy from his nap, he doesn’t duck away from Bruce’s hand as he usually does and Bruce cherishes the moment with all his heart.

“You wanna come and play real hide and seek, Jay?” Dick exclaims from where he’s edged closer to the bed.

His drowsiness immediately forgotten, Jason nods enthusiastically and climbs off the bed. Together the two rush out of the room and Bruce just barely catches a hint of a playful smile on Barbara’s lips before she too follows Dick. 

Watching his two boys run off, Bruce’s can’t help the small smile that plays on his lips. The relief lifts his shoulders as he releases the breath he’d been holding for the last thirty minutes. Really, he should have known better than to assume the worst. But as of lately he finds himself worrying over little things more and more. When he turns to Alfred he’s expecting another smug smile to greet him, another member of his family mocking him for his absolute overreaction. 

Instead he finds fond and knowing eyes looking back at him. Bruce is acutely aware that, if it weren’t for Alfred he’d probably still be looking for his son by this time tomorrow. Together with half the police department if he had his way. 

“Thank you, Alfred.” The smile that lifts the corners of his mouth is mirrored by his trusted father figure and he hopes the man understands all the small nuances he puts into those two words.

“Naturally, Master Bruce.”

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a true story by yours truly. Apparently I liked to sleep in unusual places to have some peace and quiet when I was a little kid. xD
> 
> Happy new year everyone! I wish you all the best for this new year and that all your wishes may come true! Stay safe! ❤️


End file.
